One of the reasons online applications fail job seekers is that they take too long to complete. Assume 4,999 individuals applied for the same job you did. Each applicant spends an average of 30 minutes completing the application. With that level of competition, your chances of being recruited are about as good as winning the lottery. The main prize will be awarded to just one individual. If you do the arithmetic, that translates to 149,970 minutes or 2,499 hours squandered on that one program. That's almost a whole year at a full-time job! My mind is blown!
The waiting game for an interview starts when you submit your application. Worst of all, there's no assurance you'll receive one. In reality, for every job ad, an employer gets an average of 118 applications, with just 20% of those applicants being invited to an interview.
Did you realize that many of your online applications are never seen by the employer? An Application Tracking System is used when you submit an online application (ATS). This tool searches your resume for job-specific keywords. With as many resumes as a company gets, this aids in the hunt for the appropriate employee. Your resume must include a sufficient number of keywords related to the post. Otherwise, it may slip into cyberspace, never to be seen again.